The invention relates to an electronic module in accordance with the preamble of Patent claim 1.
From U.S. Pat. No. 5,093,985, a manufacturing process is already known for small electrical devices and modules where a three-dimensional circuit board arrangement is used with flexible film connectors.
Flexible film Connectors make it possible here to electrically connect several individual circuit board pieces and to arrange them to suit the space available Flexible film connectors are already known as being state of the art. Thus, it is known that so-called ribbon cables, i.e. several copper strand conductors adjacent to each other in a plastic enclosure, can be used for the flexible connection of circuit boards, a method commonly applied for connecting PC cards, for example. Flexible connector cables for circuit boards are also known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,956, as well as a fixture for connecting electrical conductors printed on films in accordance with the utility model application DE-GM 7717962 Although film connectors of this kind are very flexible, they cannot ensure a definite positioning of the circuit board pieces. For this reason, the invention in the publication U.S. Pat. No. 5,093,985 also has additional mechanical holders designed as snap-in elements between the various circuit board pieces. Similar flexible connectors for circuit board pieces are also known from the publication JP 5-90749 or from JP 6-112622. These too call for an additional means of holding the circuit board pieces. Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 5,274,195 describes a flexible circuit board connector and in particular a method for its manufacture in which the flat conductive paths are etched. The circuit board connector thus becomes more elastic and is additionally covered by an elastic plastic layer. Flexible conductive path films are also described in EP 03 86 279 A1, EP 06 32 683 A2 and JP 1-66991, where in the case of EP 03 86 279 this flexible conductive path film is also partially stabilized by a plastic extrusion and arranged three-dimensionally. Components are still attached to the flexible conductive path film, however, compared with which circuit boards are considerably easier to handle.